


It's a Mad World

by CaptainViolet



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Torchwood
Genre: Fish out of Water, Gen, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Torchwood AU, Wales
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-09-27 07:11:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20403742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainViolet/pseuds/CaptainViolet
Summary: Reid wakes up and the world has gone mad. He's in Wales. There are dinosaurs. There are aliens. And on top of that, Hotch has the hots for him. All this is more than just slightly unnerving ...





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> First published on fanfiction.net. Unbeta'd, if I remember correctly. Edited very slightly, as this story seems to be from 2011 when my English wasn't so good. Please do tell me if you find any mistakes, I might even actually correct them if they are embarrassing enough.

"Uh… huh…", he mumbled. Where was he? He opened one eye. A handwritten word was looking at him. _mismatched_. What was _mismatched_ doing there, right in front of him? He opened the second eye and blinked at it. There were more words around it. He realised he must be looking at a paper with writing on it. Reid wearily propped himself on his elbows and kept staring at the sheet. The title suggested it was a report on a case but he couldn't remember anything about it. He rubbed his eyes and wondered why he had slept here. The most probable explanation was that he must have fallen asleep in the bullpen, right on his desk, while working. The problem with this explanation was that he couldn't remember working late last night. Not remembering something was worrying him more that just a little bit. He was so used to remember everything.

Reid sighed and decided to get himself a cup of coffee. Hopefully it was going to help his memory. But when he looked up he almost fainted.

He was not in the office. He was at a place he'd never seen before. Yes, he had been sleeping on a desk, but it wasn't his. It seemed to be some kind of office since there were other desks and some complicatedly connected computers. There were concrete walls. And a very high concrete ceiling. Some rusting metal stairs. In the middle of the room (he used the word 'room' only for lack of an appropriate one) there was some sort of big stone column that had water dripping from it. It was collected in some sort of fountain underneath the column. Where the _heck_ was he? And, more importantly, how had he gotten here in the first place? The last thing he remembered was sitting in the metro on his way home.

He moaned. Was this a dream? It surely didn't feel like one. Or had he fallen asleep on the underground and someone had abducted him? But why would they bring him _here_of all places? Why would they abduct him anyway? And who would do such a weird thing? His brain miserably failed to come up with a logical explanation to all of these questions. Now he was really, really worried. What should he do?

Confused Reid reached into his pocket and was surprised to find that they, whoever they were, had left him his phone, badge and gun. He took out his mobile and sighed when he saw he had no signal. So he was either somewhere in Hicksville or under the earth. He tried his GPS but it didn't work either. Apparently the time was half past six in the morning.

He decided that he'd try to get out of this place to find out where he was. He began exploring the concrete room but found all doors locked. There was one very big round entrance he couldn't open either. It had writing on it that told him it had been made in Wales. Was he in Wales? Or was Wales the only place where they made huge round concrete doors? He shook his head in puzzlement.

One hour later Reid still hadn't found a way out. He had, however, found a coffee machine. Happy about this he had made himself a cup of liquid heaven. Just as he was pouring sugar into it and thinking about what to do now he heard a noise coming from behind him. He turned and saw one of the formerly locked doors open. A man stood in the frame.

Reid stared at him as if he was a monster. "H- Hotch? Wh-"

"Morning Reid! Didn't you bring any breakfast? I'm starving!" His supervisor flashed a happy smile at him and nonchalantly strode into the room towards the biggest computer. He looked a little out of the ordinary because he wasn't wearing his suit. Instead he wore a light blue shirt, dark jeans and a long grey army coat that swished behind him as he walked. Hotch narrowed his dark eyes as he scanned the screen. The weird thing was that he seemed completely at ease at this weird place.

"I... uh... I slept here...", Reid stuttered.

"Why aren't you wearing a suit?", Hotch interrupted, obviously not interested at all in his subordinate's sleeping habits.

Reid was nonplussed by the sudden change of subjects. "I... uh... I never knew that dress code was such an important issue for you... sir." What he really wanted to do was to shout _Where the heck are we? What are _you_ frigging doing here?_ but he was too overwhelmed by his boss' unusual behaviour to do so. Hotch seemed so... calm. As if he knew this place well. As if all this was okay. Somehow this had a calming effect on Reid's nerves. If his supervisor wasn't intimidated by this situation it couldn't be all bad, could it? He sighed and took a sip of his coffee.

"Reid, you _must_ wear a suit! The sole reason I hired you was because you look drop dead handsome in a suit!"

Reid almost choked on his coffee. A noise that sounded like a cough's deranged cousin escaped his throat and he sprinkled hot coffee all over his hand that held the mug. Had his boss really just said that? _Hotch_ of all people?

The dark haired man turned as he overheard the other's reaction and looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Are you quite all right?", he asked, a slight of concern swinging in his voice.

"Y... yes... yes...", Reid stammered.

There was a short pause in which he felt scrutinised by these dark, unreadable eyes before Hotch grinned and said, "Could I have some of your heavenly coffee, too?"

"Um. Of course...", he mumbled and turned to the coffee machine, frowning. His boss had smiled twice in the last five minutes. That was unusual. And the way he behaved like he owned this place... like he had expected Reid to be here, too... all was _really_ very unusual to say the least.

The thought struck him that maybe he was having amnesia. The BAU might have been given a whole new headquarter and he had forgotten about it. But this didn't explain Hotch's good mood. He sighed as he pressed the on-switch on the machine. At least he remembered how his supervisor liked his coffee...

Just as Reid handed Hotch the fleshly brewed coffee and wanted to address his problem the Welsh door opened by rolling to one side and in came Penelope and Emily. _Good_, he thought, _So they're still on the team!_ _Hopefully _they_ behave like they always did_.

"Good morning!", Emily beamed and put a box full of croissants on one of the table. Reid guessed it was hers. "Anything new?"

"There was a major shift in the Rift over the night but there were no reports and nothing's on the radar. I'm guessing we were lucky and nothing happened.", Hotch answered, eyes fixed on the screen in front of him. Then he went over to Emily's desk to grab his breakfast.

Reid wondered what they were talking about. What was the Rift? He glanced at the screen. There was some sort of curve chart but he didn't understand what it was supposed to mean.

"Let's go and feed Myfanwy, Reid.", his boss changed the subject again and waved the young man to follow him. Hotch stepped at a desk and absent-mindedly put on a headset.

"Myfanwy?", Reid asked in bewilderment. Was that someone else who worked here?

"Yeah, she hasn't had beef in ages and I can't lift that box all on my own.", Hotch explained but his subordinate still didn't understand. Feed? Was Myfanwy a dog?

Hesitantly he followed his boss and looked over his shoulder as he typed in the code for one of the doors. Just as Hotch's hand was hovering over the panel, numbers appeared in Reid's mind. _5, 3, 8, 9, 0_. He saw how his supervisor pushed exactly these buttons. Inwardly he sighed with relief. Somehow he _did_ know the code for this door. The theory of having amnesia was thus not so far-fetched. His heart a slightly bit lighter he kept following his superior, hoping to be able to address the issue of his amnesia as soon as they were alone again. But his boss was quickly hastening along the cold corridor and Reid had difficulty keeping up with him. It didn't seem like the best moment to bring up the subject.

Suddenly Hotch turned to face another door and typed in another code. Reid realised that he also remembered this one. It was all there. Though the thought of him knowing things he actually didn't know was a little unnerving it was calming him down at the same time. It all seemed to fit.

The door opened and both men entered the little room. Hotch walked towards a pile of boxes and seemed to wait for Reid to catch up. Apparently he wanted him to help carry one of the boxes. With the heavy weight of the packet between them as they walked along the corridor again it still wasn't the right moment to talk about amnesia, Reid decided.

His supervisor managed to open another door and they both walked in to put the box on the stone floor. They were in a big, high and almost empty hall. Dirty, dusty windows let in only little light. In one corner sat _something_. While Reid stared at it Hotch was keeling down, busy opening the package they had brought with them. Then he got up again and walked into the corridor where they had come from. As if he hadn't seen the _thing_ in the corner. Reid closed his gaping mouth and receded backwards through the door, following his boss.

"You coming?", he heard his supervisor call out behind him.

He closed the door, made very sure it was locked and turned around, breathing hard, his mind not quite able to understand what he'd just seen. "That's... that's... a pterodactyl!", he stammered. This was just impossible! They were supposed to be dead for thousands and thousands of years! And findings indicated that they were much, much smaller than the one in the hall!

Hotch, who had preceded a few steps, turned as well to face the younger man again. Then he returned and came towards him, an amused smile creeping on his face. Again. Why did Hotch smile all that much today? "Yeah. Remember how we caught it?" He was standing right in front of him and his eyes sparkled with mirth and something else Reid couldn't quite classify.

However, he thought that this was the perfect chance to address that he _didn't_ remember things. "Um... actually that's-"

"Just you and me?", his supervisor interrupted and cocked his head to the left.

"That's something I wanted to talk to you about-", Reid went on.

Hotch lifted an eyebrow but he was still smiling. "You wanted to talk about you and me?", he interrupted once more. Oh dear, was that _cheekiness_ in his eyes? His supervisor leaned a little closer. He was definitely invading his private space now. The situation was incredibly confusing for Reid. He took a defensive step backwards and felt the coolness of the door he had just locked behind his back. "Ah... no... actually..."

But Hotch took another step into his direction. Their chests almost touched. Reid was pressing himself against the door now. The unusual closeness was unsettling him immensely. Then he observed how his boss' gaze wandered downwards as he spoke, apparently resting on his lips. "Or about your reaction to 51st century pheromones?"

"Huh?"

And then Hotch kissed him. He was too surprised to react in any way. He let his boss' tongue enter his mouth without any resistance. The tiny part of his brain that told him that this actually felt really, really good was overridden by panic and confusion. All he could think was _Whattheheckishappening?_, over and over again. He flinched as he felt Hotch's hand on his bottom. At this his supervisor finally drew back, frowning at him.

Reid still had his eyes wide open. "What?", he said bewildered.

"Reid, what's the matter with you?", Hotch asked.

"What?", he repeated, louder this time, with a voice full of disbelief.

"You've been acting strange all morning! What's up?"

"WHAT?" What had just happened?!

Before his supervisor was able to answer a loud and screeching noise filled the air. Red lights began to blink in the corridor. Reid saw how the other man pressed a button on his headset. "Anyone able to tell me what happened just now, guys?"

_Yes_, he thought, _I'd be glad if somebody could explain that to me, too!_

Hotch glanced at his subordinate. "Reid's with me. For some reason he didn't put on his headset.", he told someone on the other end. "No, we don't have repellent with us. How did they get out?" He looked very stern as he listened. "Garcia, can you fix it?" Then he nodded curtly. "No, Morgan and Prentiss can do that, you stay and mend the electric locks."

Just for safety, Reid drew his gun.


	2. 2

The lights ceased to blink and the noise stopped as well.

"Derek told me that we've got the Weevils of block seven on the loose.", Hotch explained, "Somehow their electric locks came undone and as soon as they found out they escaped."

"That was the reason for the alarm?", Reid asked. He felt like all this was getting a little bit too much for him. He was at a place he'd never seen before with all his team acting as if nothing had happened, there was a living dinosaur in the cellar, Hotch apparently had the hots for him and in addition to that some beetles were on the loose which seemed to be a bad thing. All he wanted was to wake up in his bed and find out that it had all been a bad and crazy dream.

His supervisor nodded. "We can't do much about it since we've got no repellent spray but according to Morgan there were only three Weevils in that block. I'm sure they can handle it."

"Ah. Only three. I see...", Reid said, trying to sound like he knew what his boss was talking about. Why were these insects so dangerous that two adult FBI agents were barely able to cope with only three of them? Did they carry some disease?

"We should lock the door that leads to this corridor though. I'm pretty sure they won't make it into the centre of the hub but one never knows."

Carefully and silently they made their way towards the concrete room they had come from in the first place. But only several feet before they reached it it sprang open, revealing a horribly disfigured person. Reid, who had been a little ahead, screamed and stumbled backwards. The figure in front of them seemed to be human but at the same time to have no nose and only very small ears. It's big mouth was full of sharp, dangerous teeth. It's eyes glinted evilly.

"Shh! Don't provoke it!", Hotch hissed.

A gurgling noise escaped Reid's mouth. The hand that pointed his gun at the creature was shaking.

"Guys, we've got one down here in the corridor leading to Myfanwy!", he heard his supervisor's voice, apparently addressing someone over his headset. He didn't sound strained which was reassuring. The swear word Reid heard him utter a few seconds later was less reassuring though.

The Weevil, because he assumed this was what the monster in front of him was called, had begun to growl. It appeared that not all Weevils were beetles.

"Hotch and Prentiss are busy defeating the other two.", Hotch explained. "If it attacks I'm afraid we'll have to kill it. Well, you, since I never carry my gun with me in the hub. And it looks very much like it's gonna attack us."

Indeed, the growl had become louder, more menacing. Reid swallowed and was slowly walking backwards. After all, he wasn't sure whether bullets were able to kill the creature.

And then, with a deafening roar, the Weevil jumped at them. Instinctively he shot and was surprised to see he had hit, which was the reason for their attacker to simply slump on the floor, lifeless. One of its hands brushed against Reid's leg as it fell and he leaped backwards in panic, hurtling into his boss who caught him just in time to prevent him from falling.

"Easy now, coffee boy!", said Hotch as he helped him get up again, "It's dead."

He was breathing hard and looked at the beast lying on the floor, eyes big with shock.

"Too bad!", he heard his boss sigh, "I had hoped to go out with this one tonight."

Confused, Reid looked up. Hotch grinned and winked at him.

Reid stared.

Hotch had made a joke.

And he had winked.

Hotch had actually winked!

It was this little fact that made Reid cry.

"Hey, whoa, Spencer!", he heard his boss. At first he seemed to be overwhelmed by his subordinate's behaviour but then Reid felt a comforting arm around his shoulder. "Spencer, what's up?", he heard his supervisor say. But they were not on first name terms!

"I don't remember!", he sobbed.

"You don't remember what?"

"Everything! This place! The pterodactyl! The monster there! Hotch, I... I think... I've got amnesia!"

"Okay, okay, shh!", Hotch tried to calm him down. "Don't panic! What's the last thing you remember?"

"That I'm on the metro on my way home from the office."

"You take the metro? Sophia line to Tudor street?"

Reid shook his head, tears streaming down his face. "What's Sophia line?"

Hotch looked very serious. "Spencer, do you know where you are?"

"Hotch, I woke up this very morning not remembering how I got here!"

"You're in Cardiff."

Reid snivelled. "I'm in Wales? But how did I get here?"

"Uh... You remember Torchwood? And Lila?"

The young man shook his head and searched his pockets for a handkerchief. "What's Lila got to do with this?"

His boss sighed and handed him a kleenex. "You work for Torchwood. We deal with extraterrestrial life on earth. You joined us because you wanted to save your girlfriend Lila, who was turned into a Cyberwoman."

"Cyber- what?" He blew his nose.

"The Cybermen from Mondas did that. In the battle of Canary Wharf."

Reid blinked at his boss, still not understanding anything. "D... Did you say extraterrestrial?"

"That Weevil there, it's an alien. The pterodactyl, too." Then something seemed to come to Hotch's mind, and he frowned. "But... wait! Why do you remember my name? You only met me here, in Cardiff! You were so desperate to get into Torchwood, you'd follow me everywhere, helping me out whenever you could. You offered me a cup of your wonderful coffee right in front of the supposedly secret hub, just to make me hire you! Remember?"

Reid shook his head violently. "I worked for you at the BAU for the last seven years, Hotch! There were no extraterrestrial creatures and no supposedly extinct pterodactyls, just very deranged human criminals."

Before his boss was able to answer Morgan and Prentiss appeared in the doorframe.

"Oh, glad to see you got it!", Emily said as she cast a look at the body on the floor. "We managed to lock the other two up and Pen fixed the locks."

"What's up with you, coffee boy, don't tell me you're sad about killing it!", Morgan joked, "Or did you know it personally?" His grin widened.

Hotch cast him a stern glance. "Shut it, Reid's having amnesia!"

Derek raised an eyebrow, instantly getting serious again. "Then we better bring him upstairs so I can inspect him."

Prentiss asked, "Did he had some sort of accident?"

Hotch sighed. "No idea."

"I can't remember… I just woke up and didn't knew where I was.", Reid explained.

"Come on, let's get you upstairs.", Morgan said, "It's only natural to be freaked out by this situation but there's no reason to panic. It might be anterograde amnesia, which means the cause for it-"

"-might have happened some time ago.", Reid interrupted and nodded. He turned towards Prentiss, explaining, "You see, there's retrograde amnesia, which-"

"Hey, wait!", Derek interrupted, "I'm the doctor here!"

"No, you're not!", Reid replied bluntly. "But I have a Bachelor in medicine."

Morgan smiled dismissively and shook his head. "Your file says something else, coffee boy."

"Guys, let's discuss this upstairs, right?", Hotch interjected, "Derek, you bring Spencer to the surgery and have a look at him while me and Emily take the Weevil to the morgue!"

"But… but… Morgan has no medical degree!", Reid spluttered.

Hotch sighed. Personally, he didn't believe in the amnesia theory but it was the easiest to go with at the moment. "Did it occur to you that you forgot he's got one?"

This effectively shut Reid up. "N… no, sir…"

Soon Reid and Derek were in what Hotch had called the 'surgery'. It was a round, clinically white room but there was only space for one patient. Reid was just sitting on the hospital bed while Morgan did a medical check on him as Penelope came down the spiral stairs to join them. Reid noticed that she was wearing very normal clothes, jeans, a dark grey shirt and black boots. There were no colourful or glittery accessories at all.

"Are you hurt? Did one of the Weevils attack you?", she asked curiously while sitting down on the lowest step. Her voice sounded shyer and quieter than usual. Reid wondered what had made her change. Why wasn't she her usual cheerful self anymore?

"Guess who's having amnesia?", Derek replied with an amused grin.

"Amnesia? Why, what happened?"

Morgan chuckled. "He doesn't remember!"

Reid was a little annoyed that his best friend didn't take the matter more seriously but he didn't say anything.

"I'm sure you just need a trigger or something and the memories will come back.", Penelope said.

"Yeah...", he sighed while Morgan was meticulously inspecting the back of his head. 

"Can't find any bruises or scars.", Derek stated. "Your file says nothing about epilepsy, meningitis or encephalitis but I'll take a blood sample just to be sure."

He had to admit that the way his friend had examined him so far did show that he had some sort of medical expertise. "I'm too young for dementia", Reid added, "so it can't be that. And I don't have hypoxia."

"Nope.", Morgan confirmed, preparing a syringe. "Any migraines?"

Reid shook his head. "And I never had an ECT. As far as I remember, anyway..."

"Traumatic experiences perhaps? Abuse of alcohol?", Derek asked while he took a blood sample of his friend's arm.

The young man sighed. "Not that I remember."

"Fantastic!", Morgan said as he turned towards his desk, his voice heavy with sarcasm, "Not that you remember! That will definitely help you win the award for Most Helpful Patient Of The Year!"

"Derek, don't be like that!", Garcia defended him. "It's not his fault!"

The tall black man didn't answer, he just shook his head as he sat down to analyse Reid's blood sample.

He had to admit that he did feel a little rejected by the dismissive behaviour of the man who was supposed to be his best friend. Something seemed to have happened that had changed his whole team and the way they interacted. And where were the rest of them? Had they been fired?


	3. 3

Reid hoped that at least JJ would turn up. He decided that asking was the easiest way to find out what had happened to the other team members. "How are Rossi and JJ, by the way?"

"Fine, I guess.", Penelope piped up. "Oh, Emily said that they managed to find a date for the wedding! I think she said something about the end of July."

"Emily is getting married?"

"Yeah, poor sod!", Derek said, not lifting his head from the microscope.

"Derek!", Penelope said with a little indignation swinging in her voice. "Dave asked her! That means he wants to marry her!"

Reid almost fell off the hospital bed. "Emily marries _Rossi_?"

"Pen, I'm pretty sure he only asked her because he's realised she fancies Hotch as well and wanted to make sure she's not breaking up with him."

"This is just... insane!", Reid said with disbelief in his voice.

Morgan shrugged and mumbled "Girls!" as if this explained everything.

It didn't. Reid wondered whether his team had become the cast of a bizarre soap opera where everyone dated everyone else. And why was Morgan not flirting with Garcia as he always did? _They_ were supposed to be the ones fancying each other! Had they had a quarrel or something?

A few minutes later his friend had analysed his blood and found nothing suspicious. "You're completely healthy!", he announced.

Reid was sceptical. "Perhaps I should go to a hospital and see a real doc-"

"I _am_ a real doctor!", the other man insisted and frowned at him.

"Uh. Yeah... sorry! I'm just not used to the new you."

"I'm the old me, it's you who are behaving oddly!", Morgan corrected him a little coldly, probably because he had doubted his competence.

"Don't be so rude, Derek! Spencer's all confused.", Penelope frowned at Morgan. Then she got up and looked at Reid. "I'd offer to make you a coffee but you'll hate it."

"I would?", he asked a little bewildered.

"My coffee making skills are nothing against yours!", she smiled.

"They are?"

"I don't believe it!", Morgan complained, "You don't remember what your main job here is? You're our coffee boy, that's the only reason why you made it into Torchwood!"

"But Hotch said he hired me because...", he started but interrupted himself. He was _not_ going to tell them what his boss had told him this morning! "Uh... because of my brains.", he quickly improvised.

He thought it wasn't a very bad lie but Morgan snorted nonetheless. "Yeah, sure... He almost didn't take you on, you know. He only had pity because you said Lila died." He began tidying up the surgery.

"Come on, let's get back to the others!", Penelope decidedly changed the subject and started climbing the stairs.

Reid chose not to stay and bicker with Morgan. Instead he got up and followed Garcia. As soon as they were out of the other man's earshot she said, "Sorry about that. He can be such a tosser sometimes!"

He shook his head. "I just don't remember him that way. And it's not just him. Everyone behaves... not as I remember them." He sighed. "Hotch... uh... he... I think he was flirting with me this morning.", he admitted, going a little red.

Penelope smiled. "That's just like him. Don't worry, he does that with everyone!"

"_Every_one?"

She giggled. "Emily bets he's also trying to get off with some of the Weevils. He calls himself omnisexual but I think he just wants us to believe that. He has a weird sense of humour."

"Right... But why aren't you and Morgan dallying with each other like you used to?"

To his surprise Penelope was blushing now. "Oh, but... we... we never dallied!" She didn't meet his eye and kept looking at the floor as they were walking.

"But you always called him your Chocolate Adonis, and you were his baby girl!"

Penelope looked really embarrassed. "I don't think he'd like it if I called him that. And he's much more interested in Emily than in me. It's no wonder, she's all pretty and self-confident and a really kick ass agent. I'm just... me."

"Don't say that! You're all that too!", Reid said and he meant it. So she did fancy Derek. At least something was as he remembered it!

They entered the central part of the hub where Emily worked at her desk and Hotch was visible sitting in what probably was his office. It was upstairs and surrounded by glass walls. Penelope just cast him a sad smile and went to her own desk, starting up her computer.

Prentiss looked up as Reid stood in the middle of the room, he was obviously uncertain about what to do now. "What did Derek say?", she asked curiously.

"He said I'm healthy. We haven't found out what caused it." He shrugged. "You can't really do much with amnesia, you know, basically I've got to wait till something triggers the memories."

At that moment Hotch was descending from his office. "Come on, Reid, let's go outside.", his supervisor said, "I'm sure you can use some fresh air."

"Ah, that's what you're calling it now!", Prentiss sarcastically uttered.

Hotch cast her a stern glance but she didn't seem to notice.

"See you later.", Reid mumbled as he followed his superior through the round concrete door. Somehow he didn't want to be all alone with his boss again. Hotch might take another chance to make an advance...

All the way up he found that somewhere inside him there were memories of how to get in or out of this place. When they finally stepped onto the bay he felt like having a déjà-vu. He'd definitely seen this place before. Why couldn't he remember anything about it?

His supervisor suggested they walked a little along the shore of the sea and Reid agreed. There were other people around, it felt like a safe thing to do.

After they had walked in silence for a few minutes Hotch began to speak. "To be honest, I don't think you've got amnesia."

Reid wasn't surprised. "You've never been head of the BAU, have you?"

The older man shook his head. "Not on this planet, no."

He chose to ignore this weird comment. Perhaps he should do this with all the weird things he was experiencing. "Have you any idea what happened to me? I do remember small things about this place. I have seen the hub before, I know the codes and other things."

"I have an inkling it has something to do with last night's shift in the Rift. Something strange happened there..."

"What's the Rift?"

"It's one end of a wormhole, situated right over Cardiff Bay. That's why Torchwood Three is located here. Sometimes we have aliens and other extraterrestrial stuff coming through it and we have to make sure that nobody gets hurt or killed in the process."

Wormholes were just a theory, Reid knew that. Basically they were believed to be shortcuts through space-time. There was definitely no observable proof they existed. But all right, he thought, he could accept that they did now. It was a plausible theory, after all. More plausible than the existence of aliens and dinosaurs, anyway.

"So there was a shift in it."

"There are shifts in it all the time, but last night there was a major one. Usually this means that something comes through it, but not always. We weren't able to locate anything extraterrestrial in town this morning. You see, we've got aliens and alien technology at the hub, so it's bound to show up on the radar every time. That's why we assumed nothing happened."

"Ah, because I was at the hub, which showed up anyway!"

"Precisely! Now we just have to find out what exactly happened to you. I'm guessing you come from somewhere else."

"Yeah, I'm from the United States!"

"No, that's not what I mean. I think if you go home right now you will find there is no place you live, no place you work. People won't recognise you. Because in some way, you _do_ belong here. Some part of you remembers things about the hub."

"But look!" Reid took out his badge. "It says here I'm an FBI agent from Quantico! _That's_ me! I don't have a Torchwood badge!"

Hotch shrugged. "So you got here with your original badge. We could check whether the you that you are exists, though, once we're back in the hub."

He sighed. "You don't think I'm going to wake up any moment and realise it's all a dream?"

"I wish it was that easy!" His boss smiled apologetically. After they had walked in the cool air for a few minutes he added, "I wonder what happened to our Spencer... I'm guessing he's in your world, with your team."

"But how can we reverse what happened? I mean, I want to get back! And I'm sure you want your Reid back, too."

"First we have to find out what exactly happened that night. Then we can find a way how to undo it."

Reid sighed. It seemed like a very vague plan.

* * *

The rest of the day he spent meandering through Cardiff, making coffee, sitting at his desk, getting everyone pizza for lunch and watching 'his' team at work. Hotch had told them all about his theory and now everybody was trying to find out what exactly had happened to him. Hotch had showed him that somebody else lived at his address in the USA. Penelope had hacked into the FBI computer system to show him the names and pictures of the current BAU members. He didn't recognise any of them. It just didn't make any sense.

As he brought everyone their afternoon tea ("You're also the tea boy!", Derek had insisted when he had argued that he was only responsible for the coffee.) he thought how odd it was that everyone seemed to fancy somebody from their team. Penelope was having a crush on Derek, who liked Emily, who was doting on Hotch, who flirted with... well, apparently everybody, but him in particular although his boss didn't seem too keen on the rest of the team finding out. In his own team office relations were a strict no-go area but in Cardiff everything seemed to be a bit more relaxed. He doubted that this was a good thing.

He served Penelope last because he wanted to have a chat with her. She had been the nicest to him so far. Except from Hotch who had been rather too nice which was awfully intimidating.

"Any new results?", he asked as he put the last cup of tea next to her computer.

She shook her head. "It's got something to do with the main generator I think, because it's semi-leptonic level has risen to an improbable amount, but I can't find the connection to you."

"Ah.", said Reid. It sounded like gibberish in his ears. "Do you know where JJ is? Perhaps she can help us."

"Why, she's at the police station I guess, doing her shift. But I doubt that the police could handle this case. It's nothing they deal with normally."

"JJ is not in Torchwood?"

"No. She knows why Cardiff needs us though since she's been working with Emily before she joined us. We're trying to keep the wormhole a secret but some people find out anyway."

"Oh..." Why was nothing as it should be? "Can I have a look at the files you have on alien stuff? Perhaps it helps me understand. Though actually I doubt I'll ever really understand any of this..."

"Yeah, they're available through our extranet."

"Right...", he heaved a sigh and went to his desk. He hadn't dared to touch his computer so far. What if he accidentally caused a breakdown of the whole system? They wouldn't be able to save him anymore. To his relief he found the computer working a lot like all computers did. So he busied himself with reading top secret files until Hotch called all of them in for a meeting where they discussed their meagre results of their researches. After a pretty unproductive discussion their supervisor send them home. Tired, everybody arose from their seats and gathered their belongings.

Reid got up. "Um. Where is my home?" Everyone turned to look at him.

"I can drive you.", Emily offered.

"Do you have your keys?", Hotch asked.

He fumbled in his pockets till he found them. "Those are the ones for my home in the States. Will they work here?"

"You can stay at the hub. We can go buy anything you need.", his boss said. 


	4. 4

He sighed and turned. What a silly dream he had had! He snuggled up against his blanket. Luckily the alarm hadn't gone off yet which meant he didn't had to get up. His blanket smelt really good. Unfamiliar but really lovely. It didn't feel like a blanket though. More like-

"Hotch!" He jerked back.

"Morning Reid!"

"What are you doing in my bed?"

"Resting. And just for the record, this is my bed!" His boss didn't seem to be bothered by his presence at all.

"Resting?"

"Yes. I don't sleep but I have to rest sometimes nonetheless."

"You mean you stay at the hub overnight?"

"Exactly."

"Why haven't you told me this is your bed?"

"I guess I forgot you don't remember these things. Sorry."

Reid had a feeling that Hotch had very deliberately 'forgotten' that. Quickly he sat up, trying to back away from his supervisor but the bed was very narrow and didn't allow much space between them.

"You don't have to get up! It's only five in the morning!", his boss mumbled, closing his eyes.

He chose to ignore that. "What did you mean when you said you don't sleep?"

"I'm a fixed point in space and time. I don't need to sleep."

It sounded like the stupidest explanation he'd ever heard. Perhaps he shouldn't have asked. Perhaps he was dreaming. "Uh. Is there another bed I could use? I don't want to disturb your, er, resting."

"No, there is only this one."

Reid didn't know what to do now. He was still very tired and wanted to go back to sleep but he was quite unnerved by his boss' presence. In the end he laid down again but made sure there was a gap between him and Hotch. Only seconds later he felt his superior's arm around his waist, pulling him close.

"Uh... Hotch..." There was that delightful aroma again. Was that Hotch's aftershave?

"Mh?"

"In my world we're not... you know, together."

Hotch opened his eyes. They were very close to his. "Oh, I know. We're not in this, either."

"Ah." Had he really expected this conversation to follow logic?

"You said in the beginning you wanted this to remain purely physical."

He stared at his supervisor in disbelief.

"Though you didn't seem to mind when I asked you out.", his boss went on, "And this has gone on for quite a while now, so I really don't know what-"

"W... wait... what I meant was that in my world there's nothing at all going on between us."

Hotch blinked a few times in astonishment. "Oh... Why?"

This took Reid by surprise. "Er. I don't know why... Because we're not attracted to each other I guess."

"Your boss is not from the 51st century, is he?" It was one of these completely absurd things this version of Hotch said. Things that made no sense at all.

"N... no. I don't think so."

"I see." His supervisor closed his eyes again and remained silent.

Reid wondered whether he should say something. They hadn't moved but his boss didn't make any further advances either. In the end he simply closed his eyes and kept hoping that nothing was going to happen. Little did he know that the scent emanating from the older man had a soothing effect on his nerves. It was this odour, created by the pheromones Hotch permanently and subconsciously emitted, that was the reason for people being attracted to him. It also made them feel calm and safe around him. This Hotch did indeed come from the 51st century and was trapped here because his time travelling device had been taken from him. Somehow he found that people in the past always liked his pheromones. Soon Reid was sound asleep.

When he awoke later in the morning he was relieved to find himself alone. After getting dressed he and Hotch went to have breakfast in a nearby café. He was even more relieved when he realised that his supervisor obviously contained himself from making any coquettish comments that might have unnerved him further. Somehow Hotch still managed to get the telephone numbers of all the waitresses.

When they got back to the hub the rest of the team was already there and working.

"Guys, I think I've got something!", Emily suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone expectantly looked at her.

"I scanned the hub for unusual extraterrestrial signals again but I increased the Gamma-rays by forty percent so I could figure out whether there are energies from the Outer Rim of the Raxatol Galaxies, just in case. There were none as I expected but look, the ion-level of the whole area around the hub has risen by seven percent!" She pointed at the screen.

"Seven percent! That's impossible!", exclaimed Garcia. "That means the main generator isn't working properly!"

"Why haven't we realised?", Hotch asked.

"Because the semi-leptonic level doesn't interfere with the electricity it gives off.", Penelope answered.

Emily was nodding knowingly. "And the Theta-rays it started to give off don't show up on the radar."

"Hm, I don't see how this has something to do with Reid.", Morgan piped up.

"Theta-rays can radiate through all possible dimensions at once.", their superior explained, "They must have picked up the other Reid's brain-waves and certain atoms and brought him here."

"But that means that our Reid isn't in this one's dimension." Penelope pointed out.

"Yeah...", Hotch sighed, "The rest of our Spencer is in some other dimension the Theta-rays went through. That makes it all a little more complicated than I thought."

"Why?", he dared to ask. Not that he supposed to understand the answer.

"When the rays went through one dimension the picked up random elements and transported them further into the next one where they replaced them with other elements they took with them instead. So the you in your dimension, the FBI agent, has atoms of other dimensions in himself while you here have the rest of his plus some of those our Reid has."

"Is this making any sense to you?", Reid asked.

Everybody nodded. He sighed.

"The basic problem is that we can't just stop the Theta-rays because that would mean you'd stay here. Somehow we have to reverse the whole process to send the particles that are not belonging here back into your dimension before we stop the rays.", Morgan told him.

"Ah..."

"Basically we have to reverse time.", Hotch clarified.

Reid shook his head. "But this is impossible!"

"Not if you have the severed regenerating hand of a Time Lord!", his supervisor grinned.

"Oh! Severed hands. Okay... Can I just sit down and let you do the work?", he suggested.

"Exactly my point!", Derek sighed.

The next few hours Reid sat at his desk and watched his fellow agents build some sort of machine. In the middle of it there really was a glass container in which swam a hand. It looked human. The receptacle was surrounded by all sorts of cables and metal bars and technology he'd never seen before.

After he had returned from the take away just across the bay with a bunch of pizzas his team seemed to be finished at last. They all stood around the newly built machine and looked up at him as he came down the stairs.

"Is it ready?", Reid hopefully asked.

"Yeah. Now all we need is you!", Hotch announced. "And somebody in the generator room to switch off the Theta-rays when we're finished." He cast everybody a glance. "Volunteers?"

"All right, I'll go!", Derek sighed and turned to Reid. "Farewell!"

"Yeah, bye!", he answered but Morgan was already walking towards the entrance to the generator room.

"Grab a hold of this lever there!", Hotch said and pointed at a yellow hand gear.

Reid put the pizzas down and obeyed. "You sure this works?"

"One hundred percent!", his boss said.

Reid hoped he was not lying to reassure him. He went closer to the machine and firmly gripped the lever.

"Right, off we go!", Hotch flashed him a grin and was about to push a big red button on the machine.

"Bye everyone!", Reid managed to shout just before his vision blurred and everything around him disappeared. He was caught in a swirl of colours and then found himself speeding through infinite darkness. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced and he closed his eyes in terror. He didn't like darkness. There were noises but he couldn't make out where they came from or what they meant. After a while he filtered out voices. They sounded human. The more he listened the more he realised the people he heard were talking English. There were other sounds he recognised. The rustling of paper. Steps on the floor. Crying children.

Carefully he opened his eyes again. He sighed with relief. He was back in the metro. He glanced outside the window and recognised the station. A happy smile crept on his face. He was on his way home. The weird machine had worked.

\---

Even though Reid knew exactly that what had happened had been in a completely different dimension he couldn't manage to meet his boss' eyes for at least two weeks after the incident.


End file.
